Students rally for Chavez holiday

Hundreds of Yuba-Sutter high school students marched Friday to show their dismay at not getting the day off in honor of Cesar Chavez’s birthday.

River Valley High School students marched roughly 31/2 miles to Yuba City High School, and Lindhurst High School students in Olivehurst marched nearly eight miles and across the E Street Bridge to the Marysville Joint Unified School District headquarters.

“We wanted to make a stand and show we are willing to do whatever it takes and show we aren’t scared to fight for what we believe in,” said Selicia Padilla, a Lindhurst sophomore who organized her school’s rally.

The local marches coincided with marches in other parts of California. Students and others demanded that Chavez’s birthday become a national holiday. Those protesters also demonstrated in favor of a legalization program for the nation’s estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.

In the march from Lindhurst to Marysville, MJUSD Superintendent Gay Todd and Lindhurst Principal Bob Eckardt followed students in a vehicle, along with other staff in a separate vehicle. Marysville police cars joined the effort to make sure the young demonstrators were safe and stayed off the freeway.

“They won’t talk to anybody, even the television stations,” Todd said.

About 200 students in the Lindhurst group, wearing sensible shoes and carrying backpacks with water and snacks, carried signs and shouted chants as they marched.

“At least by my account it was a well-organized walkout,” Todd said. “They had intended to make this walk when they came in this morning. They checked into their first-period class and gathered as a group and left Lindhurst.”

The Lindhurst group was apparently larger than the River Valley march.

Bill Highland, an assistant principal at Yuba City High School, said there were no large gatherings at his school.

Chavez was a Mexican American labor activist and leader of the United Farm Workers. Before he died in 1993, he was a leading voice for migrant farmworkers. His leadership focused attention on the laborers’ working and living conditions, which eventually led to improvements.

“As Latino people here in our country, it is important to have someone that stands for us,” Padilla said.

“We want him honored just as any other historic leader is honored because he did a lot for this country.”

When students began to lag near the end of the more than two-hour march, school officials offered them a bus ride to their destination at the MJUSD office. They declined.

Students assembled around the flagpole at the district office and presented administrators with a letter and petition to observe Cesar Chavez Day on the school calendar next year.

“Some of the kids were sporting some rather large blisters, but they felt very passionate about their request,” Todd said.

Padilla said she and fellow students said the event was well worth the effort because administrators are now considering their request.

“I’d rather have them in school, but they did a very peaceful and respectful walk,” Todd said.

Although district trustees had just finished organizing next year’s calendar, they agreed to meet with students to discuss the possible observance of Cesar Chavez Day in the Marysville district.

“It is certainly something we will take a hard look at,” Todd said.